By Jeff Sanford
(June 21 – 16:30 ET) – The TSE 300 finished the day down 42 points at 10,197.30. Part of the decline was due to profit taking on Nortel and BCE, both of which enjoyed steady gains over the last few days. They were down $1.70 and 30¢ respectively.
But while the heavyweights held the index back, there were some big movers in individual stocks.
Investors poured back into Seagram now that the deal with Vivendi is final. After losing 8% of its cap yesterday, the drink and moviemaker rose $3.85 to end the day at $89.25.
Negative news about Oracle’s revenue stream didn’t seem to have any effect on that company’s deal to partner with Waterloo tech-darling, Research in Motion. RIM stock was up $11.45 on news of a deal with OracleMobile to stream Internet content to RIM’s BlackBerry pager without a browser.
Former gold-miner turned tech play, William Resources, was the most active stock on the TSE today. Over 14.5 million shares changed hands on news that it has taken a 40% position in C Sixty, a privately held biotech firm. It’s rose 46% on the news.
Kasten Chase was the other big mover today. The Toronto-based tech firm benefited from news that its RASP Secure Media encryption software is the first to be okayed by the National Security Administration for use transmitting top-secret government documents. Stock in the company rocketed 59.66%, gaining $2.84 to end at $7.60.
Among the sub-indices, nine of 14 ended the day lower. Communications and media was the biggest mover, gaining 494.99 points to end up 2.38%. News that OPEC has okayed an increase in production of 708,000 barrels a day pushed oil and gas back up. It ended the day at 7,627.37, up 23 points.
The CDNX reversed its downward trend of the last week and ended up 18 points, finishing up at 3,488.66.
The Canadian dollar ended the day at US67.87¢.
With no consensus among market movers, nor any economic news in the pipeline, and not a peep about the economy from Greenspan during testimony on Capital Hill over derivatives legislation, U.S. markets would have stayed relatively flat if not for Microsoft.
The software giant was up 9% — the highest it’s been since April 13 — on news of the decision by Judge Jackson that Microsoft can continue business “as is” while Gates and company wait for their appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court. CIBC World Markets has upgraded their recommendation on the stock to “buy” from “hold.”
The Dow ended up 62 points at 10,497, while the NASDAQ composite climbed 50.93 points to finish at 4,064. The S&P 500 closed up 3.12 points to finish at 1,479.07.
Even though the markets have been hesitant over the last week, confidence may slowly be seeping back into the market as the date nears for the Fed’s next rate call. The next financial quarter is nearing an end and those sitting on big cash positions will either have to put that money to work or explain why they’re still sitting on cash in the wake of Greenspan’s rate decision next Wednesday.